Juan Martin del Potro has extended his dominant unbeaten record against Dominic Thiem with a quarter-final victory over the No. 3 seed in the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco on Thursday night. In the fourth FedEx ATP Head2Head clash between the two Top 10 opponents, del Potro brought down the 2016 champion 6-2, 7-6(7). In their most recent encounter leading in, del Potro had claimed an epic five-set upset of the Austrian in the fourth round of last season’s US Open, where he saved a pair of match points in the process. While it was the Argentine who played Comeback King in that clash, on Thursday, it appeared as though Thiem was about to return the favour....
A year ago this week, Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas was on the doorstep of a second ATP World Tour title. The left-hander led by a set in the final of the Brasil Open before falling just short against Pablo Cuevas. But the 30-year-old is back in Sao Paulo and into another championship charge, beating Brazilian qualifier Guilherme Clezar 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday to advance to his second quarter-final of the season. “I’m happy. I’ve been working a lot on my serve and I didn’t have the results yet,” said Ramos-Vinolas, who hit 14 aces and lost just three points on his first serve. "So today I think is the first day in the season that I can say that I served...
Defending champions and second seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau booked their spots in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finals on Thursday with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Marcin Matkowski and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi. The Dutch-Romanian team has a 16-4 record in finals, including a 5-1 mark in ATP World Tour 500 title matches. Rojer and Tecau will next face third seeds Ivan Dodig and Rajeev Ram, who beat Pune and Sofia titlists Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop 6-3, 7-6(6). Leander Paes moved to within two match wins of 750 victories on day four, partnering Jamie Cerretani to a 2-6, 6-4, 10/7 result over fourth seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus. They will now prepare to face Damir Dzumhur and...
Lucas Pouille extended his run of form on Thursday by reaching the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finals. The second-seeded Frenchman drew on his greater experience to beat eighth seed Yuichi Sugita of Japan 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 53 minutes. "I think after I lost the first set, I started to be a bit more aggressive, especially on the return," said Pouille. "I was very close from the baseline, even sometimes inside the court to return the second serve. That put him under pressure [and] I think that made the difference." He will next attempt to defeat seventh seed Filip Krajinovic of Serbia for a place in his third ATP World Tour final of the season. Pouille...
He might have preferred a tidier match, but Alexander Zverev will definitely be happy with his result from the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco on Wednesday. The second seed saved three set points in the first set and eventually overcame countryman Peter Gojowczyk 7-6(6), 6-3 to move into the quarter-finals in Mexico. Zverev was serving at 5-6 in the first set but fell behind 15/40 only to save both set points, and in the tie-break, he erased another set point at 5/6. A break at 4-3 in the second set sealed the match. [ALSO LIKE] The World No. 5 converted both of his break-point chances while erasing eight of the nine break points he faced. Gojowczyk had...
